Growing the Illinois Livestock Industry, Together

Livestock is the largest domestic market for Illinois grain. Each year, livestock in the U.S. consume approximately 120 million bushels worth of corn and 40 million bushels of soybeans.

By Olivia Key

The Illinois Livestock Development Group (ILDG) is a coalition of Illinois ag associations committed to growing the Illinois livestock industry. Formed by six organizations: Illinois Beef Association, IL Corn Growers Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Milk Producers Association, Illinois Pork Producers Association, and Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), ILDG strives to boost profitability of livestock and grain farmers alike.

through the process of permitting a new site to raise livestock,” says Willard. The Livestock Management Facilities Act (LMFA) establishes requirements for the design, construction and operation of livestock management and waste-handling facilities, as well as specific procedures and criteria for the siting of facilities, so the process of permitting a new site to raise livestock can be challenging for new farmers.

A board member from each commodity group is selected to sit on the ILDG board of directors. Brock Willard, an Illinois grain and hog producer, represents the Illinois Soybean Association. “These checkoff groups come together to put both money and resources behind promoting expansion of the livestock industry in the state of Illinois by helping producers get

ILDG works to provide information to livestock producers with all levels of experience through on-farm visits and site development. “ILDG’s services can be educational to farmers interested in what livestock production looks like, how it works, how to get started when being completely new to livestock, or if they had livestock a long time ago and want to get started again,” says Willard. “So, this is a resource for farmers to reach out to for guidance on where to start, how to start, or whatever fits with what works best for them.”

Integrating livestock and row crops can be crucial depending on location, unruly weather conditions, or unforeseeable changes in the economy, so adding livestock to the farm can be beneficial to ensure longterm security. “When you have diversity on your farm, you have more than one revenue stream to carry you in time when one may not be as good as the other. One of the biggest benefits we have right now from having hogs, especially with high-input costs, is having the option to add manure to the land we farm,” says Willard. “Where we're located, we have some lower organic material soil that benefits from having hog manure put on it, so having the hogs helps on the row crop side tremendously.”

Raising livestock along with corn and soybeans not only helps the producer to diversify their income, but also strengthens communities by creating jobs, driving economic growth, and supporting food security. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau, the livestock industry in Illinois generates approximately $31.8 billion in economic activity each year while supporting roughly 91,000 jobs, and in 2020, licensed meat establishments processed more than 31 million pounds of meat.

Poultry consumes the highest percentage of soy in their diet, making them the largest consumer of Illinois soybeans, with swine coming in at a close second. “My long-term goal with ILDG is to continue to expand the swine and poultry operations, they’re the two biggest consumers, so for them to flourish and grow is huge for us, but in the same breath, it's a huge economic opportunity for small communities in Illinois,” says ISA Market Development Coordinator and staff representative, Jenna Siegel.

ISA is proud to support the development of the livestock industry. “It can be easy to look at ILDG and assume this is just going to benefit farmers, or this is only going to benefit producers. But the bottom line is, it benefits the communities they're in as well, and in turn the entire state. So, I am really excited for the future of ILDG,” says Siegel.

For additional information about the Illinois Livestock Development Group, contact info@illinoislivestock.org.